Nanophase materials composed of nanosize particles are used in a variety of applications to produce a variety of products. The ceramic industry frequently utilizes nanophase solid state materials to produce ceramic based products. Nanosize materials are also useful in forming thin coatings for electronic and superconducting applications. Other uses of nanophase solid state materials include catalysts, superconductors and oxides for recording media. Such nanophase materials are particularly useful in these and other applications because they can be densified by various techniques resulting in high strength materials and materials containing a relatively high percentage of the densified material. Nanophase materials are also useful in the fabrication of electronic devices since small particles calcine at lower temperatures to form continuous structures.
Co-precipitation processes are normally employed to manufacture such nanophase materials. The co-precipitation method, however, has the disadvantage of producing materials which are not exceptionally homogeneous and the reproducibility of the process is often poor and it is not a general process for the synthesis of nanophase materials. In addition, the materials produced by the conventional co-precipitation require relatively higher calcination temperatures to cause densification. Higher calcination temperatures are disadvantageous because they lead to higher defect concentrations resulting in decreased resistance to fracture. Gas phase processes have been used for synthesizing a few nanophase compounds. These processes are usually not suitable for general metal oxide syntheses. Moreover, production rates are very low.
As a result, there is a need for a process to synthesize such materials generally which is both easily reproducible and which provides nanophase solid state materials for use as ceramics, catalysts, superconductors, electronic part coatings, and the like.